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The Evolution of Organizations: Suggestions from Complexity Theory About the Interplay Between Natural Selection and Adaptation

Department of Management and Marketing; College of Administration and Business, Louisiana Tech University, P.O. Box 10318, Ruston, Louisiana 71272.

Daniel B. Marin

Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803.

Deborah V. Brazeal

Department of Management, College of Business, California State Polytechnic, Pomona, California 91768.

William H. Friedman

Department of Business Analysis & Communication, College of Administration and Business, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana 71272.

There has been much debate in the management literature between neo-Darwinists (who believe in the natural selection of populations of organizations) and adaptationists (who contend that changes in organization structure and behavior occur in response to the environment). The general thesis of neo-Darwinism is that species are blindly selected for survival by the environment. The latest empirical support for the dominant neo-Darwinism perspective adopted by most biologists is based primarily on the experiments conducted by Salvador Luria who claims to have conclusively demonstrated that genes mutate randomly. Recently, however, biologists have re-examined Luria's research methods and, after replications of his experiments, now question some aspects of the validity of his results. Moreover, there is now new research which provides support for the earlier adaptationist position, namely, the existence of evolutionary drivers and directors existing within self-organizing systems. Of particular importance to the present study is the experimental indication that self-organizing systems play a conscious role in their own evolution. We propose that similar mechanisms or processes operate in organizational adaptation, thus pointing toward a theoretical modification of neo-Darwinism that embraces both adaptation and natural selection in a general, unified theory.

Key Words: organizational evolution • complexity • natural selection • self-organization

Human Relations, Vol. 50, No. 11, 1383-1401 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/001872679705001103


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